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4.17.24 [Just today in social media.]
Artist’s impression of Dragonfly soaring over the dunes of Saturn’s moon Titan. NASA has authorized the mission team to proceed on development toward a July 2028 launch date. Credit: NASA/Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL
NASA has confirmed its revolutionary Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s organic-rich moon Titan. The decision, announced April 16, allows the mission to progress to completion of final design, followed by the construction and testing of the spacecraft and its science instruments.
“Dragonfly is a spectacular science mission with broad community interest, and we are excited to take the next steps on this mission,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Exploring Titan will push the boundaries of what we can do with rotorcraft outside of Earth.”
Led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, the Dragonfly spacecraft will launch to Titan in 2028. Following a roughly six-year interplanetary journey, the car-sized lander loaded with science instrumentation will fly between dozens of landing sites on Titan’s surface to advance our understanding of the chemical origins of life. A mobile eight-rotored lander that will fly autonomously, this game-changing mission will achieve critical planetary science and astrobiology objectives as well as advance aeronautics and space technology.
“The Dragonfly mission is an incredible opportunity to explore an ocean world in a way that we have never done before,” said Dragonfly Principal Investigator Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle of APL. “The team is dedicated and enthusiastic about accomplishing this unprecedented investigation of the complex carbon chemistry that exists on the surface of Titan and the innovative technology bringing this first-of-its-kind space mission to life.”
Since the team’s selection for formulation in 2019, NASA has directed the project to replan multiple times as a result of funding constraints in fiscal years 2020 through 2022. To compensate for the delayed arrival at Titan, NASA also directed use of a heavy-lift launch vehicle to shorten the mission’s cruise to Titan. In early 2023, the mission team successfully completed its Preliminary Design Review. At that time, the mission was asked to develop an updated budget and schedule to fit within constraints of the current funding environment. NASA confirmed Dragonfly with a total life-cycle cost of $3.35 billion and a launch readiness date of July 2028.
“APL is incredibly proud of the international team that has advanced the Dragonfly mission,” said Bobby Braun, head of the Space Exploration Sector at APL. “We are grateful for the confidence NASA has in this team and look forward to launching the agency’s first mission to the surface of a distant ocean world in 2028.”
APL manages the Dragonfly mission for NASA. The team includes key partners at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado; Sikorsky in Connecticut; NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California; NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; The Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania; Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California; Honeybee Robotics in Pasadena, California; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales)(FR); the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne (DE); and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) (JP).
Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
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Founded on March 10, 1942—just three months after the United States entered World War II— The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab -was created as part of a federal government effort to mobilize scientific resources to address wartime challenges.
The Applied Physics Lab was assigned the task of finding a more effective way for ships to defend themselves against enemy air attacks. The Laboratory designed, built, and tested a radar proximity fuze (known as the VT fuze) that significantly increased the effectiveness of anti-aircraft shells in the Pacific—and, later, ground artillery during the invasion of Europe. The product of the Laboratory’s intense development effort was later judged to be, along with the atomic bomb and radar, one of the three most valuable technology developments of the war.
On the basis of that successful collaboration, the government, The Johns Hopkins University, and APL made a commitment to continue their strategic relationship. The Laboratory rapidly became a major contributor to advances in guided missiles and submarine technologies. Today, more than seven decades later, the Laboratory’s numerous and diverse achievements continue to strengthen our nation.
The Applied Physics Lab continues to relentlessly pursue the mission it has followed since its first day: to make critical contributions to critical challenges for our nation.
Johns Hopkins University opened in 1876, with the inauguration of its first president, Daniel Coit Gilman. “What are we aiming at?” Gilman asked in his installation address. “The encouragement of research … and the advancement of individual scholars, who by their excellence will advance the sciences they pursue, and the society where they dwell.”
The mission laid out by Gilman remains the university’s mission today, summed up in a simple but powerful restatement of Gilman’s own words: “Knowledge for the world.”
What Gilman created was a research university, dedicated to advancing both students’ knowledge and the state of human knowledge through research and scholarship. Gilman believed that teaching and research are interdependent, that success in one depends on success in the other. A modern university, he believed, must do both well. The realization of Gilman’s philosophy at Johns Hopkins, and at other institutions that later attracted Johns Hopkins-trained scholars, revolutionized higher education in America, leading to the research university system as it exists today.
The Johns Hopkins University is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest (approximately $147.5 million in today’s currency)—of which half financed the establishment of the Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as the institution’s first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. Adopting the concept of a graduate school from Germany’s historic Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, [Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg] (DE), Johns Hopkins University is considered the first research university in the United States. Over the course of several decades, the university has led all U.S. universities in annual research and development expenditures. The university has graduate campuses in Italy, China, and Washington, D.C., in addition to its main campus in Baltimore.
Johns Hopkins is organized into 10 divisions on campuses in Maryland and Washington, D.C., with international centers in Italy and China. The two undergraduate divisions, the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, are located on the Homewood campus in Baltimore’s Charles Village neighborhood. The medical school, nursing school, and Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center are located on the Medical Institutions campus in East Baltimore. The university also consists of the Peabody Institute, Applied Physics Laboratory, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, School of Education, Carey Business School, and various other facilities.
Johns Hopkins was a founding member of the Association of American Universities. Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Johns Hopkins. Founded in 1883, the Blue Jays men’s lacrosse team has captured national titles.
Research
The opportunity to participate in important research is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Hopkins’ undergraduate education. About 80 percent of undergraduates perform independent research, often alongside top researchers. Johns Hopkins has members of the Institute of Medicine, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, The National Academy of Engineering, and The National Academy of Sciences. Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the university as alumni, faculty members or researchers.
The Johns Hopkins University is among the most cited institutions in the world ranking No. 3 globally [after Harvard University and The MPG Society (DE)] in the number of total citations published in Thomson Reuters-indexed journals over 22 fields in America.
Johns Hopkins received research grants from The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as a leading recipient of NASA research and development funding. Totals include grants and expenditures of JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
The Johns Hopkins University also offers the “Center for Talented Youth” program—a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying and developing the talents of the most promising K-12 grade students worldwide. As part of the Johns Hopkins University, the “Center for Talented Youth” or CTY helps fulfill the university’s mission of preparing students to make significant future contributions to the world. The Johns Hopkins Digital Media Center (DMC) is a multimedia lab space as well as an equipment, technology and knowledge resource for students interested in exploring creative uses of emerging media and use of technology.
In 2013, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships program was established by a $250 million gift from Michael Bloomberg. This program enables the university to recruit fifty researchers from around the world to joint appointments throughout the nine divisions and research centers. For The American Academy of Arts and Sciences each professor must be a leader in interdisciplinary research and be active in undergraduate education. Directed by Vice Provost for Research, there are Bloomberg Distinguished Professors at the university, including Nobel Laureates, fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and members of the National Academies.